"Liam?"
"Hm?"
"Do you really believe me about your council?"
He glanced over at me from the paperwork he had been reading.
"We're going back to Germany, aren't we?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you actually believe me."
"I'm willing to look into it, Anna. You have to understand that there's no hard evidence. The only thing I have to go on is your word."
"Shouldn't that be enough?"
A look of frustration crossed his eyes. "I'm not saying I don't believe you. I'm just saying I need more proof before I go on a witch hunt."
That was understandable, I guess. I wanted him to fully trust me the way I fully trusted him, but I knew he was skeptical. I didn't like that he was skeptical of me, but there wasn't much I could do about it.
"I guess."
"Look, Anna, most of these council members have been with us for centuries. They were trusted by my parents and I've grown up around them."
"They are trying to make me seem insane so you'll leave me," I emphasized.
He set his papers down and turned his full attention to me.
"If you're fine and nothing happened, why did you say all that crap on the plane?"
"I don't know."
"Because something was wrong, Anna."
"Not with me. Something was happening to me."
"Yes, I know, but how are we supposed to know whether it was due to the council or just you being sick?"
"I'm not sick, Liam."
"We don't know that for sure."
"I know it for sure."
"Anna-"
"You don't want to believe me, fine. I'll prove it myself."
I stood and started to storm back to the bedroom, but Liam grabbed my wrist.
"I'm not going to live the rest of eternity by avoiding arguments with you. If we are going to last, we can't keep walking away from disagreements."
I was caught off guard by his words. He didn't usually talk to me that way, but I didn't hate it. He was right; I had to stop walking away from the issue just because it was uncomfortable.
"What do you want me to say? I tried to approach this, but you think I'm crazy."
"I don't think you're crazy. I think something happened to you, but I don't know how to explain it."
"I told you what happened to me."
"You told me what you think happened to you. I'm sorry, Anna, but I need to investigate it before I start throwing around accusations."
"Do you think I'm still crazy?"
"I told you I didn't."
"Are you afraid of me?"
He scoffed, "No."
"You are! You're afraid I'll hurt someone else!"
"That's ridiculous."
"No it's not."
Light turbulence knocked the plane, causing me to lose my balance for a moment. I steadied myself on the chair and looked at Liam again.
"You killed someone, Anna," he said quietly. "There was no reason for it."
"You didn't bother to ask me the reason. You assumed I did it because I was out of control."
"What are you talking about?"
"He was going to kill me." I wrapped my arms around myself and looked away, still ashamed that I actually killed him. "I went overboard, I'll admit, but I had a reason for killing him."
"Why would he try to kill you?"
"At first I thought it was because he thought I was a demon, but now I think he might have been hired to do it."
"No. Mariah found him for me. She would never hurt you."
I shook my head. "I don't know, Liam. I don't know why he wanted to kill me, but he was going to."
He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled roughly. I didn't know what to say, but I had to say something. He wanted honesty and I was going to give it to him.
"I've been in this alone. You haven't listened to me since I came to on the flight. This is exactly what I was talking about when I said you don't respect me."
"You're being irrational."
"Don't tell me how I should or shouldn't feel. If this is how it's going to be forever, I don't want it. I can't live like that."
"Like what? You are so damn dramatic all the time and it's exhausting."
"So what if I'm being dramatic right now? I think I have a pretty good reason to be," I countered.
"I don't get you. You want me to believe that you're not crazy, but then you turn around and act crazy."
I froze for a minute. So he did think I was crazy. He didn't believe a word I said. What was he going to do when we got back to Germany? Lock me up again?
"I'm done."
"With what?"
"With you. I shouldn't have to prove anything to you. You should trust me the way I trust you, but you don't. Are you sure you even love me?"
"Of course I love you," he defended. "I left everything behind on a whim to come here with you. I left my sister, my country, just to make sure you get better."
"I think you love the idea of me."
"No, Anna, I actually hate the idea of you. Do you know how many royals have married outside of royalty? None. I'm the first one to break the system. I hate the idea of anyone breaking an ancient system because of their emotions, but I especially hate the thought of me being the first."
"That makes me feel so much better," I spat back.
"It should. I'm risking everything to be with you. Everything my parents lived and died for. What have you risked?"
"Obviously my life. Don't forget how you met me, Liam. Up until a week ago I was a servant in your house. You bought me after I was kidnapped."
"Are you going to use that forever?"
I was speechless. He still didn't get it. After everything I told him, he still didn't get it. Maybe I was being unfair. I didn't feel like I was though. I felt like I was completely justified. He still never really admitted that it was wrong to purchase people. If he had done it since he bought me, I didn't know about it.
"I don't know what to say to you anymore. We clearly do not see eye to eye on anything. How are we supposed to make a marriage work with that?"
"Anna," he tried.
"I'm serious. Maybe they're right. Maybe there's a reason royals only marry other royals. I wouldn't know the first thing about ruling with you especially if we see things like this so differently."
"You honestly believe that?"
I shrugged. "I don't know what to believe anymore. I want to be with you, but it's incredibly selfish of me to ask that of you. There's a whole side to a relationship with you that I was never prepared for."
"You think I was prepared for you? I don't know the first thing about how to be with someone on your level."
"My level?" I questioned.
"Yes. Half the time I'm trying to not say the wrong thing because I think it'll offend you and the other half I'm trying not to touch you in any way that you perceive as inappropriate."
I paused for a moment. "I think our problems are very different, Liam."
"You have the makings of a great queen, Anna. Do you honestly believe my parents agreed on every political issue?"
"That's the point. I don't know. I don't know how to do any of this especially without the backing of your council."
"That shouldn't be your determining factor, but I'm not going to stop you if you want to call off the wedding. Clearly you have some other hang up about marrying me even if you won't admit it."
"No, I don't. I want to be with you."
"Yet you keep talking about calling it quits."
"Because it's not fair to you. You're going to be fighting for my acceptance as long as we rule. I won't even be able to help you."
"You can learn politics, Anna. You know that. There's something else that you're not telling me."
"Don't be ridiculous."
"I'm not. You've been afraid of a relationship with me since minute one. I don't understand why."
I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "I'm not afraid."
"I don't know if it's because of what happened to you when you were younger," he trailed, though it was more of a question. He deserved to know why I was so hesitant with him. It wasn't anything that he did or could correct; it was all me. I had to fix myself before I could ever think of anything else.
"It's just-" I paused and sighed. "Everything is moving really fast and I know I want to be with you, but it's crazy to marry you in a month."
"So it's the timeline that's bothering you?"
I nodded.
"Christ, Anna, why didn't you just say that? All I have to do is demand more time from them."
"Why didn't you say that?" I demanded to know. All this time I was freaking out about getting married in a month and all he had to do was ask for more time? I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "Mariah said something else to me."
"What?" He asked flatly.
"She said that vampires need to..." I was embarrassed to even say it, but I needed to know if I was hurting him in any way. "She said vampires need to have sex."
He looked at me for a moment. "She's not wrong."
"So by not having sex with you, I'm hurting you?" I asked awkwardly.
He sat down on a tan couch and ran his hand through his hair. "No. I have more control over myself than that."
"So you don't want to have sex with me?"
"Not necessarily."
"Are you sure?"
"This is what you're worried about? Whether or not I want to have sex with you?"
I shrugged and picked at my nails. "I don't know. You've never tried so I just didn't think you wanted to."
"Of course I've wanted to. How could I not? I was trying to be respectful of your wishes."
"Really?"
"Yes. There is literally no other reason I haven't tried."
"So I'm the only thing holding you back?"
"I guess."
"What if I said I wanted to," I asked while I examined the short, tan carpet.
"I would tell you our first time is not going to be on a plane."
I let out an exasperated breath. "I didn't mean right this second."
He shook his head and ran his hand through his hair again. "How the hell did we even get on this subject?"
I shrugged. "Might as well get it all out now."
"Yeah, I guess."
"So what about you?"
"What about me?"
"What are you unsure of?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?" I questioned.
"That's right."
"So you don't have any reservations at all about me?"
"I don't know. You're young, I guess."
"Like you're so much older than me," I said sarcastically.
"Maybe I'm not that much older than you, but you have no life experience."
I couldn't deny that. I was sheltered and pretty much lived my life alone. I had a couple friends, but even they weren't close friends. Liam was the closest person to me. I knew what he meant by no life experience. He didn't want my whole life experience to just be him. I didn't care though. If I wanted other friends, other people in my life, I would have done something about it. It wasn't like I ever felt deprived or anything. I just didn't see a point in including others in my life. I never needed many people.
"That was by choice."
"Really? So it's your choice to have been in my possession the last year? You could have finished college or travelled or- or something."
"It wasn't my choice, but it was what I needed."
"You didn't need this, Anna."
"God put me in this situation for a reason. If He wanted me to finish college, or travel, He would have made me a different person. I'm exactly where I should be right now."
"Then why are you so against ruling?"
I fell silent for a moment. He was right. If I truly believed God placed me where I needed to be, then why was I fighting it?
"I'm not perfect, Liam. I'm still afraid of messing up."
"Everyone is afraid of that."
"Yeah, well, you were raised to do this. I wasn't."
"Then we'll start off small. You can still be the ambassador to Eric's kingdom and learn."
"Yeah, I guess," I agreed.
I didn't want to let on that he made valid points because I still wanted more time before I married him. Besides, it would be good for me to go to another kingdom and get a little experience outside of Liam's style of ruling, even if I didn't particularly want to.